This is apocalyptic

Chapter 72: Died on the Road

A figure flashed in a building in the distance and discovered a strange person riding a bicycle on the side of the road, wearing a full-body helmet and a raincoat.

Bai Xiao's image is a bit complicated, but it is also common in the end times. Many people wrap themselves up tightly before going out. One is to block the wind and sand, and the other is to have more protection.

Someone was in a shed under the far wall, looking at him with a telescope, but he didn't come out in the rain.

The new Chenjiabao stands in the ruins, with an open, flat and unobstructed periphery, and no environment or conditions for stray animals to survive.

The road twisted and turned, gradually approaching the building. Bai Xiao did not slow down, and the people under the wall just watched.

It's not small, but it's still too small.

If you just want to live together from day to day, it is enough, but this scale is not enough to support industry and technology, and it cannot resist future disasters.

Yu Ming was right. The hope of young people is not here, but in a shelter far away whose existence is unknown.

Bai Xiao was feeling a little depressed. Before he came out, he imagined the scene in a movie he had seen called The Wandering Earth, where everyone worked together to resist the disaster. In an extremely harsh environment, huge machines were roaring, and countless people were working hard for the same goal.

The bicycle went away in the drizzle.

No one disturbed me, leaving only my back.

"Who is that?" someone asked from the bottom of the wall.

"I don't know, maybe he just passed by." Another person answered with a telescope.

"I thought he would stop."

"Maybe someone who wants to die on the road."

The man put away the telescope, and the figure gradually became blurred in the drizzle.

Bai Xiao walked away from the settlement standing on the ruins without looking back.

Next he would cross the highway and head to the river-blocking dam in the neighboring province.

According to Lin Duoduo's father's notes, reconstruction requires a lot of resources. The most likely location for the shelter to be built has water sources, resources, reservoirs left over from before the disaster, power projects, and water transport systems.

Combining flood control, power generation, shipping and water conservancy, the waterway allows safe travel between the two shelters during the worst of years.

A hydropower station can operate automatically for several months or even years without any maintenance. In theory, as long as there are no problems with the equipment and the water level is appropriate, it can continue to operate.

This was the road that Lin Duoduo's father wanted to take, but was unable to reach due to the environment at the time.

The foundation of industry is energy, and electricity is the forerunner.

——The answers to everything can be found there.

Away from the territory of Chenjiabao, you can see the staggering figures of zombies again. Tall and short buildings stand like tombs in the distance, and there are even corpses of stray dogs on the roadside.

It died on the side of the road, but had not yet turned into dry bones. Its skinny body could not even bleed much, and under its bald hair were corpse spots like a zombie.

Bai Xiao got out of the car to check. It was not attacked by other animals, nor did it die of infection. The wounds on its body were clearly visible.

It could only have been killed by a human.

Bai Xiao looked up and ahead, unsure for a moment whether it was someone living nearby or just a pedestrian like him.

Getting back on the bike, Bai Xiao was much more focused and alert to his surroundings. Ever since he heard Yu Ming's words "I'm going to give you a beating", there have been many more uncontrollable risks along the way.

It is dangerous for a woman to travel alone on the road of the end times.

Think about it, it’s the same with men.

After the disaster, this land turned into a huge prison. All the people were prisoners, trapped here, losing civilization and order. In the absence of women, it was not surprising that some people did anything.

Bai Xiao didn’t know whether Yu Ming had a tragic past, nor did he want to know.

On the next day, on a deserted road, Bai Xiao saw the man walking on the road with a travel bag on his back.

He was also wearing a helmet and tight clothes, with no gaps on his body, even tighter than Bai Xiao. Hearing the voice behind him, he turned around and was stunned to see Bai Xiao, who was also wearing a helmet and carrying a bag, but riding a bicycle.

"Who is it?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse, "I asked you to go but you didn't want to go. Why are you catching up now?"

Bai Xiao was stunned for a moment, thinking back to his familiar tone, and it seemed that he had recognized the wrong person.

Seeing that Bai Xiao didn't say anything, he stood there and watched until Bai Xiao stopped the car and asked from a few meters away: "Do you know me?"

"Hmm?" Hearing Bai Xiao's young voice, the stranger was stunned. He took off his helmet and asked curiously, "Who are you?"

Under the helmet was a bearded uncle, looking at Bai Xiao with cloudy eyes.

He thought it was someone he knew who came after him and wanted to go with him.

"I'm just passing by." Bai Xiao said while riding his bike.

"Hey——" the stranger shouted from behind, but Bai Xiao ignored him.

Click...Bang!

The car suddenly stopped. Bai Xiao looked down and saw that the bicycle chain was broken.

"Hahahaha!" There was a loud laugh behind me.

Bai Xiao took a deep breath, squatted down and tried to see if he could fix it.

"This thing doesn't work." The stranger walked slowly towards him and said as he passed by him.

Bai Xiao studied it for a while, then gave up. Without even a tool, he picked up the bicycle and looked into the distance.

The stranger had walked for a while and was quite far away. He happened to look back and saw Bai Xiao walking with his bicycle. He was stunned and then he raised his hand and gave him a thumbs up.

This guy either has a bad brain or is in very good health.

Bai Xiao also thought it was not a big deal, but there was no village or shop nearby on the highway, so he could only go to the next ruins and find some tools to try to repair it - the bicycles found in the ruins had no one to maintain them, and very few of them were still usable.

This is his only means of transportation at present.

"Throw it away! Why bother?" said the stranger.

“It can still be repaired.”

“And then it gets worse.”

"..."

Bai Xiao was holding the bicycle, suspecting that he had pedaled too hard when he stood up when he was chased by the dog that day, and this was an old bike.

Relying on an old bicycle to go to the hydropower station in the neighboring province...it is indeed very difficult for this vehicle.

It's like an old zombie that has persisted for so long after the apocalypse, and then was ridden by zombies, stood up and pedaled, suffered a lot, and now it's time for it to die.

The road ahead on the highway is endless, and the end is invisible in the gray distance.

Bai Xiao abandoned his car and walked on the road like the stranger, carrying a backpack and a harpoon, wearing a helmet and holding a knife.

The two of them walked, one in front and one behind, relying on their legs, like practitioners walking in the world, or like the ascetic monks on pilgrimage in the story.

"You seem to have mistaken me just now. Do you have a companion?" Bai Xiao suddenly remembered what happened just now.

"No, I'm alone. I thought there was someone walking with me." said the stranger.

"Where to go?"

“Died on the road.”

(End of this chapter)